Rebel Mate (Interstellar Brides® Program Book 20)

by Grace Goodwin

  I inhaled deeply. Zara did not smell like flowers or sweets. She smelled like me—and sex—and I found that extremely satisfying.

  If I didn’t get ahold of myself, I’d be adorning her with more jewels than her tender flesh could hold.

  Not that she’d allow my claim. Not yet. What we’d just shared was a start, showed it was possible but would take effort. Cajoling. Trust. I still had time.

  “Proximity warning,” the auto-voice warned. “Automatic shielding activated. Proximity warning. Automatic shielding activated.”

  What the—?

  “Brace for impact in five, four, three—”

  I wrapped my arm around Zara and grabbed the stabilizer bar above my head with the other. My feet I shoved into the padded side pockets built into the bed frame for just this purpose.

  “What’s going on?” Zara blinked at me. Sleepy. Confused.

  “Two, one—”

  “Hold onto me,” I ordered. Thank the gods Zara didn’t ask questions, simply wrapped her arms and legs around my torso and clung.

  “Impact.” The ship’s artificial intelligence sounded like a grumpy old space captain. I could have chosen from dozens of voices, but I didn’t want the soft sound of a female surrounding me when I was about to kill Hive or deal with people like Ulza.

  The ship rocked and a loud explosion boomed through the ship, shaking everything. My body strained to hold both my weight and Zara’s as the ship tilted, flipping onto its side before righting itself.

  “What the hell?” Zara looked at me as I gently dropped her back onto the bed as I stood.

  “We’re under attack.” I tugged up my pants and shoved my cock within. If someone was coming after us, I didn’t want my ass hanging out.

  “From who?”

  I looked at her, at her creamy skin and silken hair and very human beauty, and I told her the truth. “I don’t know. Cerberus is probably angry you got away, but I doubt they’d come this far to get you back.” I spun on my heel and ran to the door. Motion behind me had me turning my head to find Zara climbing quickly out of bed as well. I stopped her with a held-up hand.

  “No. Stay here.”

  Another impact shook the ship, and I slapped my palm against the wall. I ran out into the corridor and headed straight for the pilot’s chair.

  I wasn’t surprised when Zara sat her naked ass in the seat next to me. “I’m not staying back there. I can help.” She tucked her long hair behind her ear. “Tell me what to do.”

  Fark. “Buckle those straps, so I don’t have to worry about you. And sit still.”

  “Okay.” She reached for the straps, pulled them over her head and around her curves, the tight fit making her breasts jut out at a perfect angle. I didn’t miss the glitter of the gold rings and chain from the cockpit’s lights.

  “Proximity alert. Automatic shielding at sixty percent.” The ship’s gruff voice barked at me as if I were an idiot for not moving faster.

  Shirtless and my pants open in my own chair, I buckled the straps and punched a button to activate a set of pre-programmed evasive maneuvers that had outsmarted more than one Hive Scout ship in the past. Unless there were multiple ships attacking us, which was completely ridiculous in this sector of space, this should—

  “Brace for impact in five, four, three, two, one…impact.”

  Fark. The ship shuddered and another loud boom sounded.

  Zara ducked her head instinctively although it would do nothing to protect her. “Who is shooting at us?”

  “Ask the ship.” I punched in a code to reroute more power to the shields, which were down to fifty percent.

  “Ship, who is shooting at us?” Zara talked to the air in an innocent way that made me want to kiss her. Again. I assumed they didn’t have voice activated ships on Earth.

  We were being attacked, we were naked—I was mostly, and Zara was completely—and I was smiling. Either I was going insane, or Zara was some kind of miracle. “The ship’s name is Shadow.”

  She looked to me, arched her pale eyebrow in question. When I didn’t reply, she asked, “Shadow, who is shooting at us?”

  “Zara of Earth, I do not recognize your authority to—” My ship was an ass.

  “It knows who I am?” Zara’s eyes widened.

  “Shadow, respond to Zara,” I commanded. “Authorization Isaak nine seven Trion echo three.”

  “Acknowledged.” The ship’s system processed my order to allow Zara access to commands. “We are being pursued by a stealth class, Spectra Five ship with Cerberus Legion coding.”

  “Uh oh. That sounds like the blue lady is still really mad about the whole titan stick incident.” Zara laughed. “I should have shoved it up her ass.”

  My hand froze on the way to the weapons panel, and I had to blink twice. Hard. I was not used to a female who spoke in such a way, even if it was something I wanted to do myself. I activated my ion cannon. It wasn’t the Spectra IV ion cannon, but whoever was chasing us wasn’t going to like it. “Shadow, light ‘em up.”

  “Shooting to kill, Captain.” I heard the sounds of the blasters, but the structural stabilizers minimized the vibrations.

  Zara turned to look at me. “What did he just say?”

  It was my turn to laugh. “I did a bit of specialty programming.” I watched with great satisfaction as the ship which had been following us disengaged and a few seconds later disappeared from radar. “Hunting Hive ships can be intense. I couldn’t stand all of the official language and protocol.”

  Zara smiled at me as she inspected every inch of my bare body.

  “Proximity alert cancelled. They are running scared. Should I pursue?”

  Normally, if we were hunting Hive, I would say yes. Hive parts were my livelihood, and I couldn’t normally let them get away. But this time, I was the one being hunted. Or, rather, Zara was. It sure as fark wasn’t me. And I didn’t care for the feeling of being prey. “Negative. Get us to Transport Station Zenith as fast as you can.”

  “Lighting my ass on fire, Captain.”

  I checked the readings for damage, relieved to find there was little to none from the surprise attack. My ship was small but heavily armored and fast as they came.

  “They’ll be back, won’t they?” she asked, glancing out the window as if she could see the craft that had been attacking.

  I leaned back and unhooked my straps. Zara did the same. When she was free of the restraints, I stood and lifted her to her feet to stand before me. Her breasts with those small gold hoops and chain were right in front of my face. Fark.

  “Who are you?”

  She frowned. “I already told you.”

  Slowly, I shook my head. “No. Who are you? Why are you being followed? You’re not just an Interstellar Bride. You can’t be. What does Cerberus Legion want from you?”

  It made no sense. A female who’d only arrived in space was wanted—and chased—by Cerberus legion from Rogue 5.

  “I have no idea.”

  Tilting her head up so I could look directly into her eyes, I asked again. “Zara, no female is worth this much trouble. Even a female from Earth wouldn’t be worth the fuel and the missiles they fired at my ship. What aren’t you telling me?”

  She shook her head before I finished speaking. “I swear, I have no idea. I signed up to be an Interstellar Bride, to get out of the shitshow that my life had turned into. I took the test, woke up on Trion, and Bertok was there, waiting to kill my mate. That’s all I know.”

  She seemed sincere, but something wasn’t right. “What about your life on Earth? Are you royal? Would they want to ransom you to a wealthy family?”

  That made her grunt with apparent disdain then begin to laugh. “God, could you imagine?” she asked although it seemed to be a rhetorical question, so I remained quiet. “I grew up poor, Isaak. Ghetto. We never had money. I didn’t go to college. My neighborhood was run by gangs and drug dealers. Even the cops steered clear. I’m not special. I’m nobody.”

  The final
ity of her words, the absolute conviction behind them made me angry. “You are Zara of Trion. You are strong and fearless and beautiful.” And mine. I fought with myself not to speak the last two words aloud. I could not make promises I knew I could not keep. She had shared her body with me but had not surrendered her heart, and that was for the best.

  No matter that everything within me hated the knowing. Wanted not just her heart but her soul. Everything. I wanted everything.

  Guess my father had been right. I was just a selfish bastard after all. I had nothing to offer this beautiful female. Nothing. I shouldn't even be touching her, fark, speaking to her. She was well out of my reach.

  Telling my conscience to shut up, I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her. She shivered and melted into the warmth I offered. While I liked her bare, the ship wasn’t thermally set to her small body. The adrenaline of the chase was wearing off, but I had never experienced the withdrawal bare.

  “What now?” she asked.

  “Now we go to Transport Station Zenith and meet with Ivy and Zenos.”

  “Are they your friends?”

  “Ivy is from Earth, like you. And Zenos is from Rogue 5. Astra legion. They have no love for Cerberus. If anyone can figure out what might be going on, it’s those two.”

  9

  Zara, Canteen, Transport Station Zenith, Sector 437

  “Do people grow taller in space because of less gravity or something?” I asked as another giant passed, my sense of humor firmly in place. We’d arrived at this new place, a transport station Isaak informed me, parked the spaceship and were supposed to go directly to what sounded like a regular, old-fashioned bar. Canteen it was called. Whatever. Isaak promised me they served drinks. Food. People came from all over. He also swore there would be more uniforms and less… blue.

  “Atlan.” His one-word answer had me turning around to stare. So, that was one of the beasts I’d heard about. I’d seen the other one on television, on that alien bachelor show. But somehow, the true size of that one hadn’t quite made it through the TV screen.

  “Holy crap. He’s huge.” And hot. Wisely, I kept the second part of my opinion to myself.

  Isaak chuckled. “You should see their cousins, the Forsians. Even bigger.”

  He was holding my hand—my other held my titan stick—and every time a big, bad alien passed, he pulled me closer and a bit behind him. I didn’t even think he noticed, but it was…sweet. I was used to looking out for myself, but I wasn’t going to complain. Not after Bertok murdering my mate, the blue lady, the getaway, the orgasms, and the shoot-out in space. I had taken a bit of a nap on Isaak’s ship, but to be honest, my nerves were fried. Besides, it was nice to let someone else take the lead for once. Not that I had plans to get used to it. Isaak had made it very clear that he was taking me to Ivy—an Earth girl—and that would be the end of it. I was going back to Trion. Isaak was not.

  End. Of. Discussion.

  Isaak had his gun strapped to his thigh, but he was relaxed. Maybe his calm was the result of all that hot sex. Whatever the reason, he didn’t seem too concerned about being shot at or chased. Although after the whole attack in space situation, I needed another orgasm or two to calm down. I’d been in fights at home. Hell, I’d even fought it out under The Omega Dome and stabbed the scaly, poisonous lizard man with his own cattle prod. But a shootout in space? Naked?

  Never.

  Take that, Star Trek.

  I’d never been in a shootout quite like that before, but I’d seen them on TV. Not one had it where the actors were bare assed. As for Isaak’s fine body and big cock, he was impressive, and he could walk around with everything on display for all I cared. The man should be proud of what he was packing—and I wasn’t talking about the gun in his thigh holster—and want to show it off.

  I followed Isaak down a long corridor, this one much cleaner than the one I’d run down in the dome. Here, the air didn’t smell like unwashed bodies, animals and nasty body fluids. The walls were metallic and shiny, the results, no doubt, of the odd circular robotic creatures that stuck to the walls like snails inside a fish tank. They had rotating brushes that looked like half mop, half broom, and left a pleasant, fresh air kind of smell behind. Walking up and down the halls were mostly males, huge males of various races I’d not seen before. Some had fangs, some wore black and gray armor with the Coalition Fleet insignia I recognized from my time at the Interstellar Brides processing center. Some, like Isaak, just walked around like they owned the place.

  Some looked human, but I wasn’t fooled. Even if they looked like us, I knew damn good and well these males were not men. They were aliens. Tall, bulging muscles, intense stares and almost every single one noticed me before Isaak. Their eyes would flash from my breasts—where the nipple rings and chain were clearly visible through the tunic Isaak had given me—to the collar around my neck. Satisfied, they did the man thing—lifting their chin or tilting their head at Isaak—to let him know they had assessed the situation with the female and would not interfere.

  Like I wasn’t even there.

  At first, I hated them all. Then I decided I didn’t mind their assessment. If it had been Bertok dragging me along, or the blue lady, I would have more than welcomed some hot alien interference.

  Isaak would tell me their species after they passed—and after I had asked him about twenty times in a row. Viken. Prillon. Atlan…and boy oh boy, those boys were big. There were Hunters, whatever that was, and then there were the gangsters from Rogue 5. I stopped asking about them. Every single one of them looked different—hybrids, Isaak informed me—and they all wore arm bands. Different colors but easy to see. Steer clear, that was my policy when it came to those creeps.

  Yep. I was still in space on some kind of gigantic, floating space station in the middle of nowhere. I had no clue where we were other than the name, so I had to trust him that we were safe. That the chasing and shooting was over. And that there really would be a woman from Earth at the end of this walk.

  The canteen doors were three times the size I was used to back home, but when two of the Coalition guys walked through, side-by-side, I realized the size was a necessity.

  “Prillons.”

  “They mate in pairs, right?” That’s what Warden Egara and the pamphlets back at the bride testing center had informed me. Two of them. One woman.

  Wow. That was a lot of man. Or alien.

  “Jealous, gara? Did I not satisfy your needs?” He pulled me to the side of the large doors and turned me to face him as more aliens passed. His dark hair was a little wild, but that seemed to be normal for him and not just a post-sex look. He lifted his free hand and wrapped the base of my neck in his warm, firm grip. God, the things that one simple touch made me feel.

  “You know you did.” My pussy clenched, further reminding me that I got hot for things I’d never expected. Domination. Edging. Safe words.

  But those things didn’t make a relationship. They made sex hot as hell. Who knew?

  Isaak, apparently. He was from Trion. Were all males from Trion like him? If my matched mate had lived, would he have done the same things to me? Made me call him master? Made me writhe and sweat and want to beg?

  Did I respond to Isaak that way because he helped save my life? Or were my brain and body somehow hardwired to want a firm twist of his hand in my hair? A rough kiss?

  Isaak pulled me to him and kissed me as if he could read my mind. That was it. I was gone. Totally gone. Nothing existed but him. His tongue. His chest pressed to my breasts. His lips demanding admission to my mouth. He devoured me, and I allowed it.

  Wanted more.

  He pulled away, and it took me several moments to remember where I was.

  Shit. I had to stop acting like such a sex-crazed fool.

  We were here on this new transport station… together. Not together.

  Isaak was not my mate. He was not going back to Trion with me. I was not keeping him.

  Pulling away, I moved toward the
doors. “Let’s go.”

  Strong hands pulled me back and settled me behind him. He was too damn tall, I couldn’t see over his back. “Stay behind me, gara. I will protect you. This station is supposed to be a neutral meeting place, but if Cerberus’ legion is here, they are not known to behave well.”

  My female pride was dinged, but I didn’t argue. I bit my tongue because I was scared and nervous and in fucking outer space. And I would admit none of that.

  Never appear weak. First lesson when growing up on the street. Never.

  Isaak led me inside the bar, and I stayed close, following on his heels to a small table against one of the far walls with four chairs placed around it. In moments, he had entered our order into a screen on the tabletop and another robotic table on wheels had pulled up next to us. Isaak settled a dark red beverage in front of me and another for himself.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “It’s nutrient rich and tastes like sweet Atlan wine. It will nourish us and allow us to remain alert.”

  “Good idea.” Drowning my nerves and the horror of that last couple days in alcohol was tempting, but I had thought long and hard about my life. I’d fight to death before I’d allow the blue lady, the slimy lizard man, or anyone else take me again. I’d left Earth to escape a shithole life. I’d be damned if I was going to settle for one out here.

  Now, we had drinks before us, and another couple moved in close and sat down on the other side of the table. The alien—I assumed he was an alien by the sheer size of him and the dark green band on his arm—stood until the woman had taken her seat. Once she settled, he pulled his chair back and positioned it, so he could watch almost the entire room at once.

  Isaak lifted his glass. “Zara, this is Ivy and Zenos.”

  Ivy smiled at me, and I about burst into tears. Shit. “Hi. You’re from Earth?”